A review by tonisecelecticlibrary
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

adventurous dark lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book could best be described as a contemporary fantasy/ magical realism thriller. Ever since reading Ink Blood Sister Scribe I have loved the idea of books as magic. This book’s fantasy and magical books were so well thought out and crafted and so completely unique I loved it. 

Other things I loved:
The realness of some of most of the characters being driven by basic human emotions- particularly greed. It was infuriating but a pretty good picture of humanity. 

The way everything comes together at the end and all starts to make sense was just amazing. I applaud the author on that.

Good vs evil trope with some morally gray in between. The bad guys in this book were really bad and pretty masterful on the part of the author. 

Unfortunately, this book is only 3 stars for me because there were some aspects I just did not like. 

Things I didn’t like:
As much as I said I liked the characters being real and driven by emotion, the FMC was so intelligent I thought she’d be a little past that. Her impulsive decisions without thinking through the consequences were the catalyst for most of the plot in the book. Even her well thought out actions were still sometimes problematic.

The pacing. Some chapters spanned years, others not even an hour. While that is common in fantasy books, I feel as though it could’ve been done differently to be more cohesive. 

While realistic to see, the racism from the “bad” characters, fat comments, and low self-esteem in the FMC were cringey at times. 

There was no need for the hints of romance in this book. The book was described as being full of “adventure, magic, and romance.” The romance was slim to none and did not add to the book at all. 

I also had a really hard time getting into the book. It wasn’t until about 60% through I started wanting to pick it up. I think it was my frustration with the FMC but also I may just be in a bit of a book hangover, so I’m not holding that one against the author. 

Overall a good book. I would recommend it to fans of Ink Blood Sister Scribe, people who like reading about other people with a love of books, or other magical realism/ contemporary fantasy readers. This is Gareth Brown’s debut novel and I think there will be a lot more good things from him in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book. This review is given voluntarily. 
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